Female students sue California school district, alleging they were told to remove shirts opposing transgender athletes
The Riverside Unified School District violated two high school girls’ rights by ordering them to remove or conceal T-shirts opposing the practice of transgender athletes competing in girls’ sports, a lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit, announced by a Murrieta-based conservative law firm Wednesday, Nov. 20, alleges the Martin Luther King High School students were told their T-shirts, which bore the slogans “Save Girls’ Sports” and “It’s Common Sense. XX ≠ XY,” were akin to wearing Nazi swastikas in front of Jewish students.
“We will not allow boys to take over girls’ sports or let woke policies silence young women fighting for fair competition,” Julianne Fleischer, an attorney with Advocates for Faith & Freedom, said in a news release.
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“This case,” Fleischer added, “is about protecting equal opportunities and the freedom to speak out — values that should be upheld, not suppressed, in our schools.”
District spokesperson Liz Pinney-Muglia did not immediately respond Wednesday afternoon to a request for comment.
Ryan Starling, Daniel Slavin and Cynthia Slavin are listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed in federal court. Their daughters, identified as 15-year-old “K.S.” and 16-year-old “T.S.,” are described as ninth- and 11th-grade athletes on King’s cross-country team, with T.S. being a team captain.
Starling is T.S.’s father, while the Slavins are the parents of K.S., according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges T.S. was “ousted” from a spot competing at the October Mt. SAC Cross Country Invitational “to make room for a biological male transgender athlete who did not consistently attend practices and failed to satisfy many of the team’s varsity eligibility qualifications.”
“As a result, T.S. missed opportunities to compete at a high-profile meet, losing valuable chances for college recruitment and recognition,” the lawsuit alleges.
The transgender athlete, identified as “M.L.,” received more favorable treatment than T.S., K.S. “and other female athletes who have consistently satisfied many of the varsity eligibility qualifications,” the lawsuit alleges.
About 18 to 20 parents and grandparents of King student athletes, as well as K.S. and T.S., wore “Save Girls’ Sports” and “It’s Common Sense. XX ≠ XY” shirts at the Mt. SAC Invitational, the lawsuit states, adding that no one complained about the T-shirts at the time.
Wearing the shirts at a Friday, Nov. 1, practice, T.S. and K.S., who “are Christians … (who) believe God created boys and girls with unique biological differences,” were told by King Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Amanda Chann to remove their shirts or wear them inside out, the lawsuit alleges.
Chann, who is named as a defendant along with King Principal Leann Iacuone, told the girls the shirts’ messages “created a ‘hostile’ environment” and that “wearing the ‘Save Girls’ Sports’ shirts was analogous to a student who wore a swastika in front of a Jewish student,” according to the lawsuit.
Many of T.S.’s and K.S’s teammates “agree with their views of human identity, sex and gender but are afraid to express their views,” the lawsuit alleges, arguing that the school district allows the girls’ classmates “to wear clothing and apparel with various political, social and religious messages on them,” the lawsuit states.
The suit alleges violations of T.S.’s and K.S.’s constitutional rights to free speech, due process and equal protection under the law as well as Title IX, a federal law barring sex discrimination in educational programs receiving federal funding.
The plaintiffs are seeking a court order against the school district “to prevent further suppression of their free speech rights, a judgment affirming Title IX protections for female athletes” and unspecified damages, according to the news release from the plaintiff’s law firm.